The outdoor industry makes way too much stuff. That has ramifications all down the line. There is a lot of product in the marketplace that retailers don’t buy from vendors, and that customers wouldn鈥檛 miss if they never saw it. I would like to see lines shrink overall and focus on what a company does best鈥攖he true best sellers. Why does everyone have to be all things to all consumers?聽Suppliers should also make as much of their product as possible from recycled or sustainable materials. Don’t just add an “eco” line and continue to produce all your other stuff. Make more of the core line sustainable. It should all be “eco,” right?

Some might argue this will create supply chain issues. In a way, the solution to the problem is simple. If companies collectively demand a different system from their manufacturers, change can happen. If we develop tight, sustainable lines and muster enough confidence to run with them for more than one season, we can take the pressure off the ridiculously accelerated buying cycle and eliminate the scramble for factory time. Yes, the consumer wants new and different, but in large part because we have trained them to expect it. Just as the industry has leveraged the message of sustainability, we can leverage a new message that promotes fewer choices, where the constant pursuit of “new and different鈥� is unnecessary.

Packaging should also be addressed. There are some positive trends happening with packaging, but what we鈥檝e done isn’t enough. If all vendors demanded better packaging options, manufacturers would be forced to figure it out. I know there are cost concerns; nobody wants to be the first to leave money on the table and pay higher costs. But done collectively, the impact could be spread evenly and have much more effect.

Let’s take this opportunity to rethink the outdoor industry, rework how we do business, and re-train the consumer to have realistic expectations about product lines: to support a new paradigm of sustainable retail. The time is ripe to re-message, reboot, and create an industry we feel is meaningful moving into the future. Consumers will buy a new message if we sell it to them.

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Dear outdoor gear and apparel companies,

Each change in season brings a new round of product arriving at stores across the country. My staff and I get excited when the UPS and Fedex trucks roll up鈥e know the store will soon be filled with cool new gear, and we get to share the stoke with our customers.

But we also get really, really frustrated because of the mountain of waste that accompanies all that new gear. Sometimes the pile of recycling and trash is bigger than the products that came in it.

As an industry, we pride ourselves on being 鈥済reen鈥� and eco-conscious.

• We have working groups aimed at developing sophisticated tools to minimize our impact on the planet.

• We proudly tout our bluesign-certified products and the recycled nature of our fabrics and materials.

• We preach minimal impact lifestyles and Leave No Trace ethics to our customers.

• We raise money and awareness in the fight against climate change.

But behind the scenes? In the distribution centers and back rooms of retail shops all over the country? Well, collectively, we鈥檙e not doing so hot on that front.

Too Much Packaging

Almost across the board, there鈥檚 just too much packaging used. We know your overseas manufacturers have to protect the goods before loading them into containers to traverse oceans to get to our stores, but does every item have to be individually poly-bagged?

Plastic waste is getting a lot of attention these days. We鈥檝e all seen pictures of plastic 鈥渋slands鈥� in the ocean, or dead whales that have scooped up too much debris while feeding.

Let鈥檚 find better solutions! Asian factories will keep doing what they鈥檙e doing if we don鈥檛 push them for different solutions. Can鈥檛 we use bigger polybags and put multiple items in each one? Or can we find a better option鈥攕omething biodegradable鈥攖han plastic? Are we at least trying to change the paradigm?

Too Many Hangtags

Lots of you use too much material in your tags. We know hangtags are important because they provide information about the product, company, and they鈥檙e a place to put a barcode label or price tag.

But there鈥檚 no reason to overdo them. Something just big enough for the key information and a price tag is all that we鈥攁nd the customer鈥攏eed. Please use recyclable, renewable, or sustainable materials. And please: Can you keep it to just one or two hangtags? Any more than that and it鈥檚 just overkill. The tags end up getting in the way and junking up the look/appeal of your product.

Too Many and Irrelevant POP Display

First things first: you should not just build and send racks without checking with us first. We often get POP materials at our store that don鈥檛 even relate to our product mix! Straight into the recycle bin or dumpster they go.

Lots of you overdo it with racks, signage, and POP materials, period. But to make matters worse, many of your displays are not designed to withstand the wear and tear of the sales floor. They end up looking tattered and shabby after a few weeks, and that doesn鈥檛 help sell product.

Please: design your POP materials to be durable and modular, and stick with a marketing theme that has a several-season life-cycle so they aren鈥檛 obsolete in one season.

Brands That Get a Thumbs Up

prAna, you do a good job. You don鈥檛 individually bag each garment in plastic. Each piece comes rolled up, tied with a piece of raffia. (I suspect your clothing comes from Asia in polybags like everyone else鈥檚, but you save us the hassle of de-bagging, and we appreciate it. Hopefully you鈥檙e recycling all those polybags.) You also get props for packing a lot of items into each box. Your hang tags are small and made of recycled cardboard; just enough room for product info, like SKU, size, color, and a price/barcode label. You attached them to the garment with string rather than plastic. There鈥檚 no tissue paper folded up in each shirt, no plastic clips keeping the garment folded. Clean, simple, and smart.

Keen, you use 100 percent recycled shoeboxes. And more importantly, you fill each shipping box efficiently, whereas many other companies send us multiple half-empty boxes with just one style per box. It鈥檚 just silly.

Latitude 40, you use old or misprinted maps to fill empty box space, no bubble wrap crumpled packing paper.

Sanuk, you get brownie points for your great display rack that鈥檚 durable and modular, with signage that鈥檚 easy to swap out as your branding message changes.

Hydro Flask, you get props for shipping your bottles in reusable bags.

Brands That Get a Thumbs Down

Red Ledge, you go way, way overboard. You pack each garment in a separate, poly bag that goes straight into the trash. (We recycle the ones that we can.) You put six (!) hang tags on each garment, two of which have multiple folds. This is really overkill and actually hurts the sales process by making it fiddly to find the one hang tag with the size and price.

Almost all of you flip flop vendors鈥攊ncluding Teva, Sanuk, Reef, you individually bag each pair of sandals. Many of you use some kind of foot form鈥攐ften plastic or foam鈥攖o give the sandal a shape. Is this really necessary? I don鈥檛 think so.

Even you big guys like The North Face, Patagonia, and Columbia use way too many plastic bags. This is especially painful coming from companies like you with lots of resources to be creative and resourceful and make a difference by throwing your weight around.

Nebo, you really miss the mark. The only way to buy your tools is in a pre-packaged display case made of plastic. Every re-order comes with a new display, so the old ones get tossed. I know you mean well, but it鈥檚 so wasteful.

What Can Brands Do?

Be creative! Come up with display, marketing, and packaging programs that are as minimal, eco-friendly, and functional as your products. Then lean on suppliers and manufacturers to find new packaging solutions that use fewer, more earth-friendly materials.

As retailers, it鈥檚 up to us to speak up, and voice our discontent with the same old packaging protocols. When you see excessive packaging from a company, tell them. Ask them to do better.

Our entire industry depends on a healthy planet, and we do so much good in terms of advocating for climate change solutions, creating sustainable products, and supporting environmental initiatives.

Why are we still so bad with packaging?

Nate Porter opened Salida Mountain Sports with his wife, Diana, in 2007. He has been in the outdoor industry since 1990, and enjoys the great people he鈥檚 met along the way, as well as the opportunity to work in an industry that promotes healthy lifestyles and caring for wild lands. When not in the shop, he can be found skiing, hiking or biking around the Sawatch Mountains.聽

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